This document discusses a student's research and planning for creating a short film aimed at a teenage audience. The student conducted a questionnaire of their target 16-26 year old audience which found they prefer action/adventure films, are attracted to actors and storylines, enjoy both experimental and conventional films, prefer feel-good factors, and see music in films as important. The student analyzed similar films including Adulthood and Shank to understand conventions around representations of youth, moral panics, and genre. They chose to analyze the comedy Anuvahood as it provides a lighter perspective compared to more gritty films.

1. Ashargall.blogspot.com

2. My aim is to create a 5-minute short film that will entertain and inspire. I will use contemporary themes and issues and thread them in to a film that will be aimed at a teenage audience onwards. My following research will analyse similar texts in order to help me create a conventional, yet original piece of text. After the research, my aim will be more concise and relevant. ResearchPlanningMaking of FilmEvaluation

3. My research of the films that I have mentioned on my blog, show a common target audience of 16-26. Even going to the cinema and physically looking at the type of audiences in the screen has also convinced me of this age group. audience is the first area in which I will research. I aim for my film to be attractive to a late teenage audience, therefore 16-26. I wish to attract the social-network audience as not only is my audience a large consumer of social networking, the fact that web 2.0 is growing and growing means that it will be instrumental in the success of my film. Therefore, I will aim to attract as much as audience possibly in order for my film to be accessed through multiple platforms. My first task is to use a questionnaire and send it out to my target audience of 16-26. In order to attract my audience to this questionnaire, I will send it out in a message to facebook friends of that age group. I believe this will be seen as a more convenient way of gathering the information. The use of web 2.0 will help me connect directly to my audience.

4. A Questionnaire in what the audience of 16-26 year olds like to see in a film aimed at them. What is your favourite type of genre?Action/AdventureRomanceComedyHorrorThrillerSci-Fi What most attracts you to a film?The actorsThe production companyThe storylineThe conventions (e.g- Action- guns, explosions etc. Horror- violence)The ideologies Do you tend to stick to films with formulas that you are more common with or more experimental?Tried and trusted formulas/ conventionsExperimental and different filmsBoth Do you prefer films that have a feel-good factor or films that make you think and question your own motives?Feel-good factorFilms that question ideologies and conventions How important is a soundtrack/ music to a film for you?Highly importantImportantSemi- ImportantNot importantHighly un-important

5. From my findings, I have found out the following: Prefer action/adventure films,

6. Most attracted to actors and storyline in a film,

7. Enjoy both experimental and ‘tried and trusted’ films

8. Prefer films with a feel-good factor

9. Finds the music used in a film ‘important’From my findings, I have found that my target audience does like an all round package when it comes to a film. By this I mean that the sound, narrative & theories behind a film, to name a few, are all considered important in a film. I will incorporate all of the above in to my film in order to reach out to my audience. Knowing this information from my audience will also let me get a preferred reading across. An example of this is using the fact that my audience prefers films with a feel-good factor to present my character as likeable and perhaps and underdog who comes good.

10. Research in to similar filmsIn order for my film to withhold successful conventions, I must study and analyse similar films in order to grasp the positive and negatives. Such things I will analyse include the following:Media LanguageWhat the mise-en-scene represents and what effects it creates

11. The effect of camera angles and how they link in with the other concepts

12. The quality of the transitions and how it ultimately makes the film run smoothlyGenreWhat formulas and iconography are used in relation to genre

13. Potential links to classic marxist theory and of hegemonyRepresentation Why are certain characters presented as they are & who do they target?

14. Are character representations intertwined with any theories, such as personal identity in the uses and gratification theory.

15. Are stereotypes used?AudienceDoes Hartleys 7 types of elements have any impact on the audience or the characters?

16. Are audiences condensed in to certain social groups in order to be attracted to the film?

17. Do any films present any media effects to the audience, such as Behavioural change?NarrativeIs there a formula, such as the Equilibrium theory?

18. What type of narrative is it? Does it have disruptions, such as flashbacks?

19. Are there any similarities in the structures?Case Study:Adulthoodhttp://youtu.be/rhrJBUMxNMQ

20. From watching the trailer, much can be derived from it. What appeared most obvious was the sense of ‘moral panic’. The trailer was heavily centred around violence & such iconography, such as guns and baseball bats reinforced this. There were also many signifiers such as ‘hoodies’ and joggers being worn by the majority of the characters. These all contributed to stereotypes and the representation of youths today. Youths were heavily represented and gave off a strong preferred reading of being violent, abusive, dangerous and a threat to society, thus creating this moral panic. This then can be related to modern society as the film used modern relevance in the sense that it uses stereotypes to emphasise the moral panic of abusive youths in Britains. From these macro findings, a micro-like formula can be constructed.Commonly associated Iconography + Signifiers + Modern Relevance + Stereotypes= Moral PanicThis is no coincidence as the director would want to emphasise this moral panic as much as possible.The effects of thisThe audience are presented with this preferred reading and therefore a moral panic is created. Therefore this attracts not only a target audience but perhaps an audience of much older as the modern relevance may reflect society . However, during the trailer there is a hint of reform. By this I mean that the main character is seen as wanting to put right what is perhaps wrong. This then makes the film much more complex as first perceived, as it can perhaps enforce Behavioural change. Price explains that Behavioural change is meant to occur as a result of traumatic exposure to media input, which is exciting, or in this case, depressing and therefore demands an altering of the way people think. This theory of abusive and dangerous teens can be linked in with classic marxism as it has always been a topic that has been under the microscope. The 1996 film, Trainspotting, can be an example of this moral panic of dangerous youths. This can be an example of the mass media circulating ideas that keep them in power as the capitalist class exploit the lower class and with the mass media being ultimately run by the capitalist class, this explains why the idea of unruly youths has been a topic of many years. Ultimately, its the fact that there is a noticeable concern about youths today that helps the mass media exploit this, therefore making stereotypical characters appear normal.

21. Case Study 2:Shankhttp://youtu.be/kfapOIPCRik

22. The film, Shank, is extremely similar Adulthood. The film plays on this moral panic and propels it in to a huge, exaggerate state. This confirms and evens heightens what was explained before. Other things that are noticeable in Shank that will help me to create my own film is the genre. It is very similar to Adulthoods and I believe that the media language and narrative affect this. I have learnt that media language, genre, representation, audience and narrative all intertwine in to each other in order for all the concepts to be successful. An example of this is how the media language reflects the genre.This screen shot here shows the mise-en-scene as dark, grim and almost underground. The lighting does this by using weak lighting and grey colours. This appears to make the two black characters look vulnerable and defensive. This then makes the genre appear grimy, intense and dangerous. The media language here is similar of the one above. It emphasises the genre of action/adventure, but more importantly it emphasises the topics within the genre of gangs & violence. This medium/wide shot shows covered faces, all in dark, black colours. The lighting is low and dark and the fact that it is light outside and the characters are dark emphasises how dangerous this mise-en-scene appears.

23. The representations of youths are similar, that being violent, aggressive and affiliated with gang culture. The audience are presented with a moral panic and are asked to think about these behaviours. Both films use their own soundtracks of UK Grime music to emphasise the street-gang warfare. These are only half of what my questionnaire findings show. There is no sense of a ‘feel good factor’ in these two films, nor is there an obviously experimental approach that separates the two films or even separates the film from the common formula of these types of gritty, urban films. Therefore I have chosen to analyse the film Anuvahood, which is like a light-hearted version of Adulthood. The film is almost making a joke out of these gritty films, but more importantly, it is showing a light-hearted, more naturalistic view of youths today. http://youtu.be/PPsQBNxt-Y8

24. Although the film uses the same concepts of the previous two, such as gang culture and violence, Anuvahood puts on this unexpected twist by using it in a comical way. The media language fully emphasises this by fully contrasting the previous two films.The lighting of these three shots is a lot more brighter than that of Shanks. The greys are traded for pinks and it is always bright, a place where the audience wouldn’t be afraid of being. Although the second shot, being a slight low angle shot, would usually mean that the gang has authority and power, they have twisted this by using 5 comically looking characters as the gang, therefore breaking any types of formula or signifiers and using it for comical value. The film presents a ‘ feel good factor’ and perhaps a concept that has not yet been used in film. That being comical street culture and obviously acting differently in order to fit in to a certain social group.

25. Planning

26. I have worked on an idea for my film. It centres around a character who is trying to pursue his career in music. He loves to write lyrics and record his own music. However, it all turns sour when he has no success in distributing his music. This turns him fed up and depressed. He then experiences some unfortunate events, leading him to question his identity. The equilibrium is finally restored at the end when a random character approaches him and asks him for one of his mixtape/cds. This then restores the equilibrium and produces a feel good factor. The music I will use will make a big impact on the film as it will form a soundtrack. I will use binary oppositions frequently, such as bright lighting for when the character is optimistic and happy and then low, dark lighting for when the character is depressed and down.

27. I have constructed a timeline of 11 scenes in chronological order. Within these scenes, I have noted the music that is playing in it, the actions of the scene and some brief camera angles. I have only written in note form just so it can show me every scene and how they flow in to each other. I can also begin planning on the transitions that I use. I have then created an actual timeline in bullet points. This timeline shows every shot that I will use. I have decided to write it as I believe it will be more worthwhile than drawing them out. Also, there are over 20 points and some of these have two or three shots within this. I do not think it would be practical to draw all of the shots out. A scanned version of this can be found on my blog.

28. CharactersI chose Lewis as my main character because I am striving for the naturalistic look. I believe that by using Lewis and making him relaxed, he would just act naturally in which I believe would make the character believable and natural. I wanted the audience to confide in this character and perhaps seek personal identity as Lewis is a person who likes to put on different personas. This will work perfectly as I wanted my character to act like someone he wasn't all the way through. It would only be until the end of the film that he would notice that acting himself is the best way to be.